Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH, FAHA

Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH, FAHA, is the Chief Population Health Officer at the University of Houston and founder of UH Population Health. She is an appointed professor and clinical professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health Sciences at UH College of Medicine. Beech has a unique interdisciplinary background that integrates public health, population health, minority health, and health disparities with an emphasis on chronic disease self-management interventions across generations. She has served as the principal investigator for numerous studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, including several intervention trials and research training programs for groups underrepresented in biomedical sciences.

Beech was the founding dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health, the founding executive director of the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Elimination of Disparities, and tenured professor of Population Health Science and Pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She led the establishment of master’s and doctoral programs in population health science, population health management, and data science. She spearheaded the development of EversCare, a unique clinic addressing the social needs of patients at the UMMC hospital and clinics, and partnered with the Mississippi Urban League and Mississippi Food Network to develop a food pantry for patients and the general community.

Beech is a standing member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Institutional Training Mechanisms Review Committee, on the editorial board for Population Health Management, and the immediate past editor-in-chief for the Journal of Family and Community Health. She has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books with a focus on family systems and their implications for health among underrepresented racial and ethnic populations.